


"'night, honey"

by pineapple_fineapple



Category: Red Dead Redemption (Video Games)
Genre: Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, POV Third Person, Red Dead Redemption 2 Spoilers, Video Game: Red Dead Redemption 2 (2018), but also directed on arthurs pov, but its def there, but these two are too wholesome and good for each other, except for once one of the pairing i like is a girl and the other a guy, just some cowboys in love, light sadie/arthur, never saw myself writing a Hetero pair, theyre definitely both bi tho
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-20
Updated: 2019-04-20
Packaged: 2020-01-20 15:14:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,458
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18527659
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pineapple_fineapple/pseuds/pineapple_fineapple
Summary: "Arthur... are you--" Her features grew tight and drawn together, a frown forming as she paused. Her grip tightened. "Are you dyin'?"





	"'night, honey"

**Author's Note:**

> yeet i will openly admit i am mildly (perhaps mOre than mildly) drunk and anyway i love these two and its one of the only straight ships ive ever loved with my whole entire heart i just love arthur morgan and i love sadie adler and i just wish that they had openly loved each other
> 
> a doomed romance from the start, but a damn good one
> 
> anyway here it is, absolutely unbeta-ed as hell yolo
> 
> (((((inbox me any mistakes and ill fix them ##hell yeah*)))))

"What?"

Arthur blinked, focus coming back into his eyes and noticing he'd been staring at Sadie, who sat just above him on the log in front of the scout fire. He dropped his eyes, shifting and grumbling out an apology.

"Sorry. I'm in my own world."

He heard Sadie let out a huff of amusement above him.

"No kiddin', I got that much. What're you thinkin' so hard about in there?" Teasing coated her words, and her smile was easy. Arthur glanced back at her, a small smile making its way on his face back at her. He shrugged, bringing his journal back up from his lap.

"Nothin'. Just the usual, I guess. Dutch goin crazy, everyone goin crazy... Whole world ain't makin much sense lately, seems like."

He heard Sadie hum.

"I heard that. Don't seem like much anybody's all here anymore."

He nodded, scribbling in some shading. Sadie shoved her elbow into his shoulder.

"We're all that's left, Morgan!"

She said it as a joke, but Arthur felt there was much more truth in that statement than jest. He gave a slight nod of his head in acknowledgment, and woulda laughed at anything else. Just--felt too real to laugh about yet. Maybe when all this mess smoothed over; then they could drink and laugh about it much as they wanted.

He sketched.

Sadie quieted, probably realizing how heavy her joke had been and took a healthy swig from their shared bottle of whiskey.

Beaver Hollow felt more like a guillotine waiting to happen now that Dutch was mumbling to himself and preaching all day. Arthur spent more time hunting and traveling nowadays than ever before. It was the first time he'd ever avoided being at camp, somewhere he'd once always felt comfort at.

Til Dutch started losing his mind.

Hosea, who might as well have been Arthur's father after all they'd been through, was gone. And Hosea dying had brought a lot more loss than just his life. The more Arthur thought about it, the more he felt Hosea was the one truly keeping all them together, not Dutch. Maybe Dutch for Micah and Bill, but the rest of them? Hosea was the one speaking reason, and the one with real, solid plans that almost guaranteed everyone involved's safety. Dutch's plans were loose ideas and morals tossed around with nothing but faith keeping it all barely pinned together.

Hosea was the last thing keeping Dutch from tipping off the edge. And now that he was gone, it was just a matter of time until it all really, finally fell apart.

Arthur didn't know what he was waiting around for to happen.

For Dutch to turn this madness around? For them all to stop sleeping with one eye open? For the law to just disappear?

He wanted to drink.

He wanted to be aware of everything while he still could be.

He breathed, heavy and distraught.

He didn't know what the hell he wanted.

Sadie laid her hand on his shoulder.

He turned, surprised at the sudden touch.

She was watching him with a quiet and unexpectedly soft look; one he'd never seen on her face before. He'd only seen her hard and angry and feral after taking her out of her burning home and away from her murdered husband.

He imagined she'd once often looked this way.

He also imagined she must not be entirely sober.

"Arthur... are you--" Her features grew tight and drawn together, a frown forming as she paused. Her grip tightened. "Are you dyin'?"

His breath hitched. He shifted again, uncomfortable under her sudden attention and heavy question.

"I'm fine."

He turned back to his journal. Sadie dropped her hand and stood, only to drop next to him against the log he was pressed against.

"Arthur--"

"I'm fine, Sadie. 's nothin'."

He saw her stiffen out of the corner of his eye, but made no attempt to fix it. He wasn't pretending it wasn't happening or that he wasn't dying. But keeping it away from everyone else was what he wanted. Sadie knowing he was a walking dead man would do no one no good. Anyone knowing what he had would do no one no good. Wasn't like anyone could do anything about it, anyway. Also wasn't like everyone didn't already know it. Arthur could hardly stop these damn coughing fits anymore.

He swallowed down his guilt at seeing Sadie's face suddenly harden. She huffed, turning to flatten her back against the log and watch the fire.

"'s not like I don't already know," she said quietly.

Arthur curved his pencil to outline John's shadow at the main fire across from them.

"Is it what I think it is?"

Bill's burly self was always easy to draw; like drawing a tree trunk with a head.

Sadie shoved him.

He turned and glared at her.

"Tuberculosis?" She said it so angry. Or maybe it was fear? Arthur couldn't tell. He didn't want to. He just wanted her to stop trying so goddamn hard to talk about it. He raised a hand and dropped it.

"Attentive as always, Miss Adler," he said, gruff and dismissive, and turned his attention back to the main fire to outline Susan's bun. He heard Sadie scoff, but she said no more.

They sat together, silent now, except for the crackle of their scout fire and the distant, recurring laughter and song from the main fire. And the sound of Arthur's pencil scritching. Sadie hummed, maybe laughing, maybe crying. Arthur didn't look to find out.

"You got Bill's bulky self just right," she said, voice light if it wasn't so rough. He hummed in amusement.

"Hard not to. Man's one shape with a hat."

Sadie laughed at that, reaching for the whiskey and taking a swig before offering it to him. He shook his head.

"Nah, I'm alright. In a good place right now between drunk and sober."

Sadie nodded along, setting it down.

"Good place to be."

Javier had picked up his guitar and begun to sing, with Karen and Bill just drunk enough to try singing along, much to everyone's amusement. Karen swayed herself along to the song, twirling herself and singing loud enough to make even Charles crack a smile. Bill yelled at John for being in the way. Things were about as normal as they could be around here now, Arthur guessed.

Sadie dropped her head onto his shoulder.

He paused in his drawing, staying still except for his eyes looking to see the top of Sadie's blonde head.

He said nothing and started penciling in the sparks coming off the fire.

"I know you don't want nothin' to change. It won't."

He listened to Karen burst out laughing at Bill tripping.

"But I just wanted you to tell me so you knew you could, about anything."

Bill shuffled up off the ground and started yelling at John again.

Sadie curled a hand over Arthur's forearm and sat up, looking to him.

He kept his eyes down.

"Arthur."

He swallowed, eventually dropping his drawing hand and meeting her eyes.

"I know," he mumbled. Sadie watched him, expression unreadable.

"We all care about you. You know that, right?"

He shifted again, uncomfortable. Again. He nodded once and looked to his lap.

"Yeah. I know."

Sadie squeezed his arm gently, and didn't say anything more. She let go and pushed herself to her feet.

"I'll see you in the morning, Arthur. Get some sleep; Charles is taking our place here in a minute."

He nodded to her, lifting a hand in farewell. She smiled, looking for a second like she was about to cry right then and there, and then it was gone. She leaned down and slapped his shoulder.

"'night, honey."

She turned then, quick, and walked away, making a beeline for Charles to tell him she was out for the night.

Arthur watched her go until he couldn't see her anymore. And turned to his journal again. He'd drawn this one as a page of what his friends all in once place looked like. He turned to the page before it, the portrait he'd drawn of Sadie yesterday while she'd sat and been cleaning her guns. All that loose hair she barely attempted to pull back... He snorted a laugh, his shoulders bouncing once. She was hardly what many would call a lady. But Jesus... what a force to reckon with. Much more interesting of a person than half the people he'd ever met.

If there was an afterlife, and it was anything like anyone tried guessing at where you could reflect on your life and miss and want things, Arthur already knew he'd miss Sadie.

Miss Adler was someone very easy to miss.


End file.
